This disclosure relates generally to mounting apparatuses. More particularly, this disclosure may relate to mounting elements that may be subjected to a variety of operating and environmental stresses.
The mounting of various mountable elements, such as optical elements, may become a nontrivial and difficult task under various environmental or operating conditions. For example, some optical elements are very thin, and may have a tendency to break or distort from their desired optical properties under various conditions. Some environments may affect the interaction of the optic element and its mounting in ways that could result in such undesired deformation or destruction. In some cases, the mount for the optic element may transfer external forces onto the optic element itself. The risk of deformation or harm to mountable elements, like the optic element, imparted by such forces may be particularly significant in areas of enhanced thermal and acceleration variances.
As one example, when the mountable elements and their mountings are designed to operate in cryogenic conditions, the stresses on the mountable element may vary depending on whether the element is in ambient temperatures or cryogenic temperatures. For example, when such elements are designed to be launched into space, the temperature of their environment may change radically from the time at which the elements and their mountings are being assembled on the ground, to the time at which the elements and their mountings are operating in space. The temperature variance in space may also fluctuate depending on whether the elements and mountings are in sunlight or are out of sunlight.
In some embodiments, the mountable elements and their mountings may be designed to operate under acceleration variances. For example, in cases where the elements are mounted in fast switching mechanisms, switching from one element to another may cause great acceleration stresses on the mountable element and its mount. As another example, when the elements are designed to be launched into space, the accelerations and gravitational forces that the optics are subjected to during the launch may additionally stress the optics and mountings. In some cases, the combination of both thermal and acceleration stresses may compound the likelihood of deformity or damage to the mounted element. Once in space, further operation in a micro-gravity environment may present its own challenges in the mounting securing the mounted element.
What is needed is, among other things, improvements over known mounts that reduce the likelihood of deformity or damage to mounted elements, such as optic elements, during stresses imparted by temperature and acceleration variances.